If you are interested in conserving and enhancing wildflower
meadows and roadside verges in the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding
Natural Beauty (AONB) come along and join us for a free evening
talk on Friday 30th September at 7.30pm at Sawley Village
Hall.
Wildflowers in the AONB are enjoyed by many but are a
shrinking resource. This event will look at current efforts to
conserve and enhance hay meadows in the Nidderdale AONB and the
Yorkshire Dales National Park and it will also launch a future
campaign to survey and conserve the wide diversity of flora in our
roadside verges.
The event will include presentations by Christa Perry, Haytime
Officer for the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT) and James
Ferguson, Project Officer for the Dales Verges Project. Christa has
spearheaded the Yorkshire Dales Haytime Project, supported by The
Friends of Nidderdale AONB, which has worked with local farmers to
restore 35 ha of hay meadow within the AONB in 2011. The Dales
Verges Project worked with local communities and North Yorkshire
County Council to bring roadside verges into sympathetic
management, including the Sawley Parish Verges Scheme which is now
into its third season.
Kelly Harmar, AONB Development Officer, said: "If you know of
any special meadows and verges near you, or sites that could be
restored, we would love you to come along and tell us about them.
The AONB hopes to set up groups to monitor and manage the best
examples of verges within the AONB, and to restore verges in poor
condition. To do this we need local people to tell us where they
can be found."